Author: John Hammer

Former District 3 City Councilmember Justin Outling often complained about the lack of information provided to the City Council during his tenure on the City Council. At the Tuesday, Sept. 6 meeting, District 3 City Councilmember Zack Matheny voiced a similar complaint. 

The Greensboro City Council voted unanimously in favor of adding 15 cameras to the system already being used by the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) at the Tuesday, Sept. 6 meeting.

The American Hebrew Academy property is properly zoned to house an Influx Care Facility to house unaccompanied children who entered the country illegally, according to the Greensboro planning department. A letter dated Feb. 22, 2022, from Greensboro Zoning Administrator Mike Kirkman to American Hebrew Academy Associate Director Qinghua Zhao, states that the Influx Care Facility for the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the Department of Health and Human Services will be classified as an educational facility, which meets the zoning conditions for the property.

The Greensboro City Council will hold its one public forum meeting of the month on Tuesday, Sept. 6 beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Downtown Greensboro should be cleaner, quieter and easier to get around if ordinance modifications discussed at the Thursday, Sept. 1 work session are approved. The main pushback came, not from a member of the City Council, but from City Manager Tai Jaiyeoba, who suggested the city staff be given more time to study the proposed ordinance modifications to make certain they didn’t conflict with any City Council policies.

Most city offices and services are closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday, Sept. 5.

The Guilford County Board of Education looked all over the country and then found what they wanted standing right in front of them. On Wednesday, Aug. 31, the Guilford County school board name Acting Guilford County School Superintendent Whitney Oakley as the new superintendent of Guilford County Schools (GCS).

The Greensboro Police Department (GPD) is going to be using robots to assist victims of burglary. Well, not robots exactly but chatbots – something like Siri or Alexa but programmed to help victims of burglary know what to do – and the communication is by typing out questions on the website, not by shouting out, “Hey Siri.”

The Greensboro City Council is holding a work session at 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1. The topic the City Council will be discussing at this work session has not been publicly disclosed.

Toyota has announced an additional investment in the Toyota battery plant at the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite of $2.5 billion. This week’s announcement is that Toyota plans to invest an additional $2.5 billion in Toyota Battery Manufacturing, North Carolina, bringing the total investment to $3.8 billion.  The additional investment will add 350 jobs to the initial 1,750 jobs that was announced in 2021.

It appears the transition of the American Hebrew Academy into a facility to house children who entered this country illegally has hit a bump in the road. According to an article in the Floridian (https://floridianpress.com/), the US Department of Health and Human Services has put one of the contracts for the facility on hold.

The North Carolina NAACP had its tax exempt status revoked by the IRS according to numerous media reports.

District 3 City Councilmember and President of Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) Zack Matheny has been pushing for a solution to problems caused by the increasing homeless population in downtown Greensboro.

The editors of The Wall Street Journal are not impressed with the legal reasoning of the Democratic majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court. An editorial headlined, “The Philosopher Kings of North Carolina,” blasts the NC Supreme Court decision, “that unlawful gerrymandering also could be a legal excuse to undo two constitutional provisions that the voters strongly approved.”

Vaughan said that when you consider all that happened during the past four-year-and-eight-month term, including a devastating tornado, civil unrest and a pandemic, “We made a lot of progress despite everything.” 

A press release from the City of Greensboro on the American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding approved by the City Council has an interesting error.

The lead agency dealing with affordable housing, the Greensboro Department of Housing and Neighborhood Development headed by former city councilmember Michelle Kennedy, has released its report for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, which ended June 30. One of the unique challenges the Housing and Neighborhood Development Department had in the last fiscal year was distributing $14 million in COVID-19 relief money.

Sherrie Young, the Democratic candidate in the District 59 state House race, has a Sept. 12 court date for charges that were filed on Nov. 7, 2021.

The Greensboro Fire Department has once again won accreditation from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI).

The North Carolina Folk Festival being held in downtown Greensboro from Friday, Sept. 9 through Sunday, Sept. 11 has released the official 2022 schedule and site map.

The City of Greensboro doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to hire a new police chief.

The Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA) of the Greensboro Department of Transportation announced that it had received a grant of $1.1 million from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality from the Volkswagen settlement and in Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funding.

Through Sept. 9, the GPD will be conducting an intensive initiative, “Operation School Watch,” in and around school zones, in order to help ensure the safety of students and faculty as they start the new school year.

Greensboro is offering residents the opportunity to purchase 65-gallon compost bins for $52 and 50 gallon Ivy rain barrels for $71.  The bins and barrels must be ordered online by 11 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, and picked up at the White Street Landfill at 2503 White St. by noon on Saturday, Oct. 8.

The Greensboro City Council voted to dump the $59.4 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds into the city’s general fund at the Tuesday, Aug. 16 meeting.

The Greensboro Police Department (GPD) has a huge problem with vacancies. The number of vacancies in sworn officers is over 100 and growing. However, there is one vacancy that takes precedence, the chief of police.

Breaking precedent the Guilford County Republican Party decided to get involved in the 2022 nonpartisan City Council election, but didn’t have much success.

The Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department is planning major upgrades to its four pools and two spraygrounds and is seeking public input.

The Greensboro City Council approved three annexation and original zoning requests at the Tuesday, Aug. 16 meeting, and more of those requests are coming. The City Council also approved motions to hold public hearings for five annexation requests at the Tuesday, Sept. 20 City Council meeting.

Rezoning property for an emergency veterinary clinic on Lawndale Avenue, a heavily traveled corridor in northwest Greensboro, was the most controversial land use request at the Tuesday, Aug. 16 City Council meeting.

The first regular meeting of the newly elected Greensboro City Council was notable for who wasn’t there. Mayor Nancy Vaughan is on vacation and participated via Zoom. With Vaughan participating by Zoom, Mayor Pro Tem and former Mayor Yvonne Johnson presided over the meeting, and it’s always a show when Johnson runs a meeting.  Johnson doesn’t like to waste time.

District 1 City Councilmember Sharon Hightower brought up an issue about annexation that the City Council has largely ignored. Hightower talked about the services that have to be provided to newly annexed areas.

The problem with holding a work session on Thursday, Aug. 11 hours before the new City Council was sworn into office became apparent at the first regular meeting of the newly elected City Council.

In a reverse discrimination lawsuit, the federal court in Charlotte has ordered that Novant Health pay the defendant a total of $3.9 million.

There are still more questions than answers about the plans for the old American Hebrew Academy (AHA) to house unaccompanied children who entered the country illegally. A long list of questions was sent to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra from Republican members of the North Carolina congressional delegation. One of those questions can be stated fairly simply: Who gets the money?

For the 2022-2023 school year, Guilford County Schools students will have an additional transportation option. The Greensboro Transit Agency (GTA) has announced that the transit partnership with Guilford County Schools providing free transportation to Guilford County Schools students will be available.

The first regular meeting of the newly elected Greensboro City Council will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 16 in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber beginning at 4:30 p.m.

Battle lines are being drawn on the issue of what to do about the growing homeless population in downtown Greensboro. President of Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) and District 3 City Councilmember Zack Matheny is attempting to take some positive action toward ameliorating the problem. City Manager Tai Jaijeoba has been joined by District 1 City Councilmember Sharon Hightower in supporting the status quo of holding endless meetings and discussions about the city, county, state and national problem.

The new Greensboro City Council was sworn in on Thursday, Aug. 11 with only one change from the previous City Council.

It’s been a long strange trip, but the newly elected Greensboro mayor and City Council were sworn into office on Thursday, Aug. 11. The Katie Dorsett Council Chamber was packed with family, friends and campaign workers for the first ceremonial meeting of the City Council elected on July 26.

The growing homeless population in Center City Park got a lot of attention this week. Monday, Aug. 8, Downtown Greensboro Inc. President and District 3 City Councilmember Zack Matheny, by email, invited city and county officials as well as representatives of downtown businesses to walk through Center City Park with him to discuss solutions to the problems created by the growing homeless population in the park.

Next month the North Carolina Folk Festival will fill downtown Greensboro for three days with music, crowds of music lovers and much more. The North Carolina Folk Festival will be held Friday, Sept. 9 through Sunday, Sept. 11 and is free.  However, those attending are given opportunities to make donations to support the free event.

The Greensboro City Council had some success in the short session of the North Carolina General Assembly that adjourned in July. The Greensboro City Council legislative agenda – a list of proposed legislation requested by the City Council – included 11 items, most of which did not result in successful legislation according to a report provided by City Attorney Chuck Watts.

From the Thursday, Aug. 11 Greensboro City Council work session presentation, it appears the plans have shifted and much of the $59.4 million will be allocated to nonprofits and spent on city maintenance projects like replacing roofs, which no one would consider transformational.

The City of Greensboro, through the end of next month, will be accepting new and unwrapped school supplies or cash donations to the Guilford Education Alliance Teacher Supply Warehouse as payment for parking ticket fines.

On Monday, Aug. 8, the 112th Greensboro Police Academy class graduated and the recruits joined the...

Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) has announced that it has hired Rob Overman to serve as director of strategic initiatives. Overman will be the first director of strategic initiatives for DGI and will be responsible for implementing the goals and objectives of DGI that are outlined in the 2030 Strategic Plan.

The Greensboro City Council meeting schedule this week is odd. On Thursday, Aug. 11 at 2 p.m., the current City Council, which has been serving since December 2017, will hold a work session and, at 5:30 p.m., the newly elected City Council will be sworn in for about a three-year-and-four-month term.

For the 2022 City Council election, the swearing in will be the second Thursday in August.  The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11 in the Katie Dorsett Council Chamber at city hall.

Joohyung “Tom” Kim shot a 61 in the final round on Sunday, August 7, to win by five strokes over Sungjae Im and John Huh, who finished tied for second.